nstructor for one year, at the expiration of which he
was forced to leave, being warned by one John Parsons, a barber, who
had been told by his white friends that Mr. Cook was to be arrested
and detained.[88]

Mr. Trotter, in his "Music and Some Musical People," gives unwittingly
a picture of the free people of color of this epoch in fortune and
education. He quotes the _New Orleans Picayune_ in its testimony to
their superior taste for and appreciation of the drama, particularly
Shakespeare, and their sympathetic recognition of the excellence of
classical music. Grace King aptly says "even the old slaves, the most
enthusiastic of theatre-goers, felt themselves authorized to laugh any
modern theatrical pretension to scorn."[89] Trotter records a number
of families whose musical talent has become world-wide. The Lambert
family, one of whom was decorated by the King of Portugal, became a
professor in Paris, and composer of the famous Si J'Etais Roi,
L'Africaine, and La Somnambula.[90] In this same field Basile Barres
also achieved unusual fame.

Natives of New Orleans remember now how some years ago Edmond Dede
came from Paris, whence he had been sent in 1857 by an appreciative
townspeople to complete his musical education. He became director of
the orchestra of L'Alcazar in Bordeaux, and a great friend of Gounod.
When he returned to New Orleans after an absence of forty-six years to
play for his native city once more, he was old, but not worn, nor
bent, the fire of youth still flashed in his eye, and leaped along the
bow of his violin.[91] One may mention a long list of famous musicians
of color of the State, but our picture must be filled in rather with
the broad sweep of the mass, not of the individual.

Across the cloudless sky of this era of unexampled commercial,
artistic and social sphere[92] the war cloud crept with ominous
grimness. It burst and drenched the State with blood. Louisiana made
ready to stand with the South. On the 23d of November, 1861, there had
been a grand review of the Confederate troops stationed in New
Orleans. An associated press despatch announced that the line was
seven miles long. The feature of the review, however, was one regiment
composed of fourteen hundred free colored men. The state militia was
reorganized entirely for whites but Governor Moore ordered the men of
color into the army. Another grand review followed the next spring.
The _New Orleans Picayune_ made the following comme